The art of being normal

Well two post in one day! Wow more surprising two assignments coming to a third and two post. How did that happen?

This post is a book review it's not going to tell you how to be normal.

There are many young adult writers who stick to what they know. Churning out novel after novel, they dabble in love triangles, "tough life choices", white protagonists, and occasionally, throw in vampires to spice things up a little. You buy their books with the knowledge that you'll receive romance that tries too hard, pretentious metaphors and the mangling of the traditions of different ethnicities and places. Lisa Williamson writes without grace, has a whole host of bland characters and relies on the confused, problematic idea of a strict social hierarchy in secondary school. But man, does Lisa Williamson have guts. It takes guts, to write this kind of book. In this accepting, liberal day and age, it still takes some gumption to write a book about trans teenagers. For that, I applaud her.

So, without further ado, let's talk about The Art of Being Normal.

David and Leo are two very different boys, David from a stereotypical middle class family, with loving parents and an annoying little sister. His life, in short, is normal – apart from the fact that all he wants in the world is to have been born a girl. Throughout the book, this remains his defining feature, although there are several aspects of his personality left ambiguous for the reader, which could be further explored and deepened. Leo is from a lower class background, with a broken family, an abusive mother and a twin who couldn't be more different to him. And a note here, Leo's personality is far more complex and interesting than David's, who seems to be one of the blandest characters I've ever encountered. When Leo moves to Daniel's nice, well-maintained school… shall we take a wild guess? Daniel's life gets turned upside down. And I have a feeling that my sarcastic italics won't show up on the website so let me tell you now, that last line was in the most sarcastic, most ironic of italics.

Together, the boys try to find the secret in Leo's sad past, overcome heartbreak, help David talk to his parents about his wishes, and become the best of friends. The most interesting, and politically apt aspect of all this is by far the situation in Leo's home, a council housing flat which he is ashamed to admit he lives in, and the sharpest conversations, the vignettes which make this book worth reading are almost always regarding how he feels about his social class and about his family situation. His own problems are made more complex by his background, creating a richer storyline and strengthening the plot. Leo's life really is the book's saving grace, as the blasé ending, combined with David's cutout personality, make for tedious reading.

I'm saddened in a way, I suppose. Whenever a YA writer decides to discuss a controversial topic or way of being in their books, I always get ridiculously excited, hoping for some kind of ground-breaking novel. And of course, I'm almost always disappointed. When I read the first few pages of The Art of Being Normal, I had such faith! This would not be another book about finding yourself! This would not follow the long line of Perks of Being a Wallflower wannabes, it would be about justice, about struggle, about… who knows? Who knows what I want from coming of age novels? I've read so many that they've started to meld together, and hardly any of them are anything special. But The Art of Being Normal lacks stylistic polish and depth, to the extent that it becomes slightly boring, a little banal.

So, now let me turn around and say without shame, that you wouldn't do badly if you were to buy this book. I know exactly how hypocritical that sounds, but hear me out. In primary school, you get gold stickers for trying. And Williamson has tried, has tried so hard. This is the first YA novel I've read with trans protagonists and in depth discussion of gender change, and that in itself is important. The fact that she has representation, some political commentary and the occasional well-written line is more than many YA books out there can offer, something which is impressive in its own right. Don't buy the book looking for exquisite prose and a marvellous story line. But buy it for some light entertainment, for a quick read with some points to think about. This is a author who has thought about what their readers should be exposed to. And that in itself deserves a gold star.